Manchester University-focused UMIP Premier Fund, managed by venture capital firm MTI, and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) were the institutional investors in the round, which will now remain open for 30 days for a number of business angels to add their backing.

Dan Daly, co-founder and director of Lein, says the money will allow the company to prove its hand-held technology, which shines a low-power beam of light into the eye in order to evaluate the health of an individual and has key applications in diabetes monitoring and optometry.

Ivan Griffin, investment manager at NESTA, comments, ‘Lein’s technology has great potential to both improve the quality of life for people with diabetes, and reduce this condition’s ever increasing financial burden on the healthcare system.’

Currently people with diabetes measure blood glucose levels by taking a pinprick of blood three to four times a day.

Lein developed its technology with the help of research from Manchester University.